There is growing concern that as women join the labor force in increasing numbers they will not be available to care for their old parents as has traditionally been the case. The decreased ability of families to provide services to old members who are very likely to need assistance if they are to avoid institutionalization, is often assumed to be a direct consequence of employed women's competing commitments. In this research the effects of women's labor force involvement on the ability of families to care for the aged will be analyzed using as the unit of analysis both family systems (defined as the old parent(s) and their offspring) and individual women who are daughters to at least one old parent. More specifically, the aims of this study are, first, to assess the relationship between both structural (including daughters' employment status) and affective characteristics of family systems and respondents' perceptions of the adequacy of care provided to aged members; second, to examine more specifically the relationship between daughters' employment status and their involvement in the provision of care to the very old parents; and, third, to generate hypotheses and to develop a research design, including a questionnaire and plan for analysis, that uses family systems as the unit of analysis. A questionnaire, including both structured and open-ended questions, will be administered in face-to-face interviews to 50 pairs of sisters, one employed and one non-employed, who have at least one non-institutionalized parent over the age of 75. The women will be recruited through work settings or women's organizations. Qualitative techniques and bivariate and multivariate quantitative techniques will be used in the analysis. The long-term objective is to assess the effects of women's increased participation in the labor force on the capacity of families to provide care to their old members.